Hacker News Reader

the question is how much of the other stuff being built is built on top of the ad money pyramid. would cloud computing have grown as much without tons of apps and sites springing up that then try to acquire users via the main adverting channels? how many saas businesses are there catering to these types of cos that are basically unsustainable, but got funding which they primarily used in user acquisition efforts?

View on HN

Yeah that's a scary thought. You get a bunch of businesses that are flush with VC money and that opens opportunities for other companies that rely on their services or networks (granted that usually means google <thing> or AWS but that doesn't make their arbitrary removal of services any less capricious), and suddenly the pyramid wobbles like a house of cards.

Then again I'm naturally averse to invest in anything that doesn't have a profit motive front and center.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com